Monsoons kill dozens in northern India

NEW DELHI, India -- Heavy monsoon rains lashed northern India -- triggering floods, destroying mud huts and killing at least 74 people, officials said Thursday.

The deaths were all reported in the last 24 hours in the state of Uttar Pradesh, said state police spokesman Surendra Shrivastava.

Most of the deaths were caused by poorly constructed buildings collapsing under the deluge, Shrivastava said in a report from The Associated Press.

The latest casualties bring to more than 300 the number of people killed in India since the start of this year's monsoon season.

Monsoon rains sweep across the subcontinent from June to September. While they bring much-needed relief to often-parched farmlands, they also leave a trail of landslides, home collapses and floods that sometimes claim hundreds of lives.

In neighboring Nepal, massive floods caused by heavy monsoon rains forced as many as 50,000 people from their homes this week.